Balancing The Future
Episodes
Where AI Meets Neuroscience: Unlocking the Mysteries of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscience and artificial intelligence were once distant disciplines that have been brought together in technological advancement and access to high...
Inside the Green Lab: How Scientists Are Cutting Carbon Without Compromising Discovery
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Laboratories are the engines of scientific discovery, but they’re also a very resource-intensive workplace. In fact, the average lab produces around...
Forever Chemicals: How PFAS Took Over the World
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rainwater around the world now contains detectable levels of PFAS or ‘forever chemicals.’ Found in everything from waterproof mascara to firefight...
From COVID to Cancer: The Extraordinary Potential of mRNA
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you volunteer to be the first human injected with mRNA? For Dr. Steve Pascolo, it meant glowing skin, but it took many years for thi...
Distilling Change: What Carbon Negative Rum Can Teach Us About Planet, Profit and Scale
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you build sustainability into a business from day one? For Russ Wakeham, co-founder of Two Drifters Distillery, the answer is a rum ...
Iron Nails and Citizen Scientists: How Researchers are Fighting Back Against Arsenic Contamination
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An estimated 220 million people worldwide are affected by arsenic exposure. So how can communities be empowered to create and implement solutions them...
Balancing the Future is Taking a Summer Break!
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Balancing the Future will be taking a break in August. In the meantime, you can catch up on any episodes you’ve missed in your podcast app of choic...
Closing the Loop: How EV Battery Recycling Could Power a Circular Economy
04 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens to electric vehicle batteries at the end of their life? The answer could help reshape not just battery recycling, but entire local econom...
Bugs As Drugs: A Journey into the Weird and Wonderful World of the Microbiome
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What are “bugs as drugs?” These are live microbes used as therapies designed to help rebalance our microbiomes, offering hope against everything f...
Culture Clash: How Traditional Farming and Cultivated Meat Can Work Together
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cultivated, or ‘lab-grown meat,’ offers a promising path for reducing climate impact and feeding a growing population. But what does this mean for...
All The Colors of the Rainbow: Why Hydrogen is More Complicated Than You Think
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hydrogen has long played a behind-the-scenes role in industry, but could it become a frontrunner in the race toward a cleaner energy future? In this ...
Prescription to Pop Culture: How GLP-1s Are Shaking up the Weight Loss and Health Care Industries
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you haven’t heard of GLP-1s, you’ve almost certainly come across the brand names: Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. These drugs were originally de...
Understanding Through Storytelling: How Impactful Science Communication Can Make the Complex Accessible
26 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In an age of constant scientific innovation and shifting public trust, how can science communication help bridge the gap between labs and lives? In th...
Season 2 of Balancing the Future Is Coming Soon!
12 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Science and technology are evolving faster than ever, and it's exciting to imagine where they might take us next. But which breakthroughs should we be...
How Can Evolving Battery Technology Push the EV and Energy Storage Markets?
17 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For over 200 years, the fundamental principles of battery technology have remained largely unchanged. However, the rapid growth of the electric vehicl...
How a Simple Blood Test Could Help Effective Breast Cancer Screening and Monitoring
03 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, with over 2.3 million cases diagnosed globally each year. While current detection methods like ma...
The Hidden Crisis of Antimicrobial Resistance in Contaminated Water
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Antibiotics have saved millions of lives over the past century. However, their widespread use has led to a crisis – the evolution of antimicrobial r...
Science Beyond Earth: How Do We Conduct Experiments in Space?
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Experiments conducted in space challenge scientists to rethink processes in entirely new ways. But what insights can these experiments offer - not onl...
Rewind and Fast Forward – A Holiday Special
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On this special holiday episode of Balancing the Future, Dana and Micah revisit some of their favorite moments that didn’t make it into earlier epis...
From Waste to Innovation: The Promise of Bioplastics
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Bioplastic technology has been around for decades, but how can it be effectively utilized and scaled to address the growing crisis of plastic waste we...
Brewing, Sustainability, and the Future of the Industry
25 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Brewing beer is both an art and a science, a tradition that has connected people for millennia. But what lies ahead for this age-old craft? In this e...
Plant-Based Meat Alternatives: Are They a Game-Changer?
11 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Plant-based meat alternatives are having a moment, but do they represent a real shift towards a more sustainable diet? In this episode, Edwina Romanen...
How Are 3D Cell Cultures Revolutionizing Drug Testing?
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The use of 3D cell cultures is revolutionizing the drug testing industry, improving safety, accuracy and shaking up traditional methods. Could this te...
Could Cultivated Meat Revolutionize Diets of the Future?
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As diets evolve and arable farmland becomes increasingly less viable, could cultivated or lab-grown meat provide a solution to the pressing challenges...
Introducing Balancing The Future
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For hundreds of thousands of years, humans have pursued more effective, efficient ways of living and working. It’s our constant pursuitof better way...